India’s Most Delayed Train: When a Goods Wagon Took 3.5 Years to Reach Destination

When you think about train delays in India, most of us picture a train arriving a few hours late. Many trains can be delayed by six, eight, or even ten hours now and then. However, one journey stands out as truly unusual in the history of Indian Railways. A goods train wagon that started from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh was booked to travel to Basti in Uttar Pradesh, but it did not reach its destination for over 3.5 years. What was meant to be a short trip turned into one of the most delayed train journeys in India.

What Was the Delay About?

The goods wagon was carrying 1,316 bags of Di-ammonium Phosphate (DAP) fertiliser when it was loaded at Visakhapatnam on November 10, 2014. Normally, the distance of about 1,400 kilometres between Visakhapatnam and Basti would take around 42 hours and 13 minutes under regular rail operations. But this particular wagon did not arrive as expected. Instead, it eventually reached Basti railway station on July 25, 2018, after approximately 3 years, 8 months, and 7 days.

This enormous delay has since become widely known as one of the longest delays ever recorded for an Indian Railways train journey.